I bought the Cuisinart HM-50 Power Advantage 5-Speed Hand Mixer mixer back in August of 09′. We’ve had a lot of good times but it mixer finally gave out on me. I was making cookies and there was a clunking sound inside the mixer and and the right side of the mixer would no longer turn but continued to make a grinding clunking sound. I figured I’d use the mixer for as long as possible until it completely broke.

The next time I used it was to make mashed potatoes. I assumed all would be well since mashed potatoes aren’t that tough to mix up. But I heard that familiar clunking noise and the left side of the mixer would no longer mix either. So both sides don’t mix and there’s a continuous clunking grinding noise inside. It’s officially dead.

This was on the weekend so I had to wait until Monday to call Cuisinart. They were very nice. I’ll be getting a replacement. The warranty on the mixer is “limited”. They explained to me that the “limited” clause means their warranty doesn’t cover shipping so I have to send $10 for that. That’s not a bad deal though since I paid $45 for the mixer originally.

Until the mixer broke it was reall nice. Unlike a lot of mixers it has a swivel cord so as you’re moving around the cord stays out of the way. The mixer is plenty powerful although it did whine a fair amount when I made cookies. That’s probably what wore on the motor a lot. If you make a lot of things from really tough/stiff dough you might want to look into a mixer with more torque.

If you do intend to work with things like bread dough with the mixer then the optional dough hooks you can buy work really well. I had to look around quite a bit before I found them. I ended up finding them on eBay. They were about $10.

If I weren’t getting a replacement mixer for $10 I would look for something with more power but for the price I paid and the amount of use I got out of this mixer I think it was definitely a good deal.